Energy efficiency in Incline

While the rising costs of fossil fuels has upped many Incline residents' electrical and gas bills, some home and businesses owners are moving away from fossil fuel dependency. They say their efforts, while often initially more costly, reap economic benefits in the long run.

Today residential homeowners in the northern service area of Sierra Pacific Power Co. consume an average of 740 kilowatt hours of electricity per month. Based on current prices, that usage translates to $93.09 per month, Sierra Pacific Power officials said.

Comparatively, Incline residents Ben and Margaret Solomon, who own a home with multiple solar energy components on Lucille Drive, said they pay only $450 per year for gas and electricity combined.

"Primarily our decision was motivated by economics," said Ben Solomon, the former president of Sierra Nevada College. "It makes so much sense to get the sun to do the work for you - our cost savings have been phenomenal."

Solomon said that he estimates his family has saved tens of thousands of dollars since they began installing solar technology in the 1970s - even considering they have to replace their solar batteries about every 10 years.

Solar panels on the Solomon's roof help heat the family's house and water while photo-voltaic cells generate electricity.

But the Solomons are not the only homeowners around who harnesses the sun's energy to heat their home.

Solomons' neighbor, Greg Voge, also has solar technology built into the design of his house. Voge uses solar panels to heat his water, and passive solar energy to heat his house. Unlike the Solomons, Voge does not have the more costly photo-voltaic cells to provide electricity but said his utility bill still rarely exceeds $30 a month.

Voge said the design of his home as well as the solar technology help him to conserve energy.

"(My house) is much more energy conservative than a conventional house with gas heating for (space) and water," Voge said.

Solar panels are not the only way that home and business owners can save significantly on their energy bill.

Peter Millar, proprietor of an environmentally-friendly building company Reno-based Building Energy Solutions, Inc., identified air escaping from a home or business as "the single most significant thing that causes high energy use."

"You can have a Prius, and put in good double paned windows ... but if you don't take care of air infiltration you are missing a huge portion of where your energy is going," Millar said.

Millar, like many green building companies, offers energy audits which include a test for air leakage in homes and businesses.

Stephen Witek, president of SEED (Sustainable Environment Engineered Design) in Incline Village, agreed that air leakage in homes was a major factor effecting energy consumption.

"I would say an average home is leaking 30 to 50 percent of its (heated or cooled) air," Witek said.

Millar and Witek both said improving energy inefficiencies identified through an audit can cut down on energy bills by as much as 50 percent.

"A few thousand dollars and you typically cut your the energy your house uses by 30 percent. Old or new (building) it doesn't seem to matter," Millar said.

Incline Village General Improvement District General Manager Bill Horn said that IVGID has not yet implemented energy efficient technology into any of its buildings but there have been discussions on the feasibility of introducing energy conscious design into upcoming projects.

Among the Incline's commercial buildings, the Lake Tahoe School is built with energy conservation in mind.

The school capitalizes on the Earth's energy to reduce fossil fuel consumption, according to facilities manager Mark Brockway. Seventy two boreholes and 43,200 feet of polyethylene pipe buried in the back of the building act as a heat exchanger with the Earth. Energy is absorbed from the ground for heating and dissipated into the ground for cooling.

"It is definitely saving the school money," Brockway said. "In the beginning it costs a little bit more to put the system in but in the long term it is cost savings."

A major construction project showcasing green building design, energy efficiency and renewable energy around the lake is the Tahoe Center for Environmental Science at Sierra Nevada College, slated for completion in August.

"The building is shooting for a platinum LEED ranking," said SNC Chief Financial Officer Richard Rubsamen who has been working closely with the project.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, provides ranking standards for buildings that implement sustainability into their designs. Platinum is the highest LEED ranking possible to achieve.

"In order to get (the ranking) we are doing everything from recycling materials used in the construction to having photo-voltaic panels on the roof to installing a system for reclaiming rain and snow run-off," Rubsamen said.

"I think this will be precedent setting. I believe it will be the first platinum LEED building with laboratories ... which is huge."

Rubsamen emphasized that not only is the construction of the building and its design environmentally friendly but the research that goes on inside the facility will also contribute to the health of the basin's ecosystem.